Olivia DrakeThis summer, students will have the opportunity to complete semester-long courses in a period of five weeks. Twenty-five courses, taught by Wesleyan faculty, will be offered during the 2010 Summer Session. Classes begin June. 7. "These courses include some highly popular courses that always have more interested students than space during the regular academic year, as well as some new and advanced courses, and some new thematic institutes," explains Joe Bruno, vice president for Academic Affairs and provost. Highlights include three two-course institutes on different themes: neuroscience and psychology, computer programming and computer music, and visualizing (more…)
Corrina KerrThis issue we feature 5 Questions with... J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, associate professor of American studies, associate professor of anthropology. Q. How did you become interested in your area of study? JKK: My area of study is related to researching the history of U.S. imperialism in the Pacific Islands. Researching indigenous issues in Hawai`i, I found it necessary to study how the U.S. government has treated Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) in light of its U.S. federal policy on American Indians and Alaska Natives. The policy is convoluted. The U.S. government has alternately classified Kanaka Maoli, as well as other Native Pacific…
As an undergrad, John Shapiro '74 dreamed of writing the great American novel. But two things kept him from doing so. "Talent, and discipline," Shapiro says. "So recognizing that eventually, I decided that if you can't do, you can enable." In 2008, Shapiro and his wife, Shonni Silverberg, M.D.'76 made a $3.5M gift to fund a writing center at Wesleyan. And on Nov. 20, the Shapiro Creative Writing Center, located on the top floor of the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, was dedicated with a ribbon cutting ceremony. "It's my feeling that by catalyzing this effort, and…
American history has almost completely edited out Henry Roe Cloud from its story, even though this full-blood Winnebago was one of the most accomplished and celebrated American Indians in the first half of the twentieth century. Joel Pfister's The Yale Indian: The Education of Henry Roe Cloud corrects this omission. Pfister, chair of the English Department and the Kenan Professor of the Humanities, and former chair of the American Studies Program, began exploring American Indian archives when he was a Yale doctoral student in the 1980s and started his research on Yale’s Roe Cloud letters in 1995. Very little has…
Three times a week, a group of Wesleyan sailors travel 21 miles to Essex, Conn. for a three-hour practice on the Connecticut River. On the weekends, the students tackle the waters in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont or Maine. The Wesleyan Sailing Team, which recently completed its second year participating in the competitive New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA), finished its season in 26th place. Forty-two collegiate teams are registered with NEISA. This fall, the student-run group competed in nine regattas and 10 last spring. They finished three ranks under Amherst College, one rank under Middlebury College and four ranks above Williams College. "We started at…
Ramnad V. Raghavan, a widely respected performer of the Karnatak mrdangam and long-time member of Wesleyan's music faculty, died in Chennai, India, Nov. 21 after a long illness. Raghavan came from a distinguished family of musicians that produced, among others, his brother Ramnad V. Krishnan and internationally known violinists L. Subramaniam and L. Shankar. Sri Raghavan learned mrdangam from his brother Ramnad Easwaran. He served as artist in residence in music at Wesleyan from 1970 to 1975, and again from 1987 to 2000, teaching South Indian drumming. In the years between his Wesleyan appointments he lived in Cleveland, Ohio where…
Eileen Day, 74, of Middlefield, Conn. died Nov. 22. Day was born in Rockfall, Conn. June 17, 1935. She worked at Wesleyan for 23 years, and also served on the board of Middlefield Cemetery. Day worked as an administrative assistant in the Office of Events Scheduling for first part of her career and in Physical Plant in the Student Life Facilities office at the latter end. She retired in 2003 to spend time with her family and to travel. She loved to visit family that live in different areas of the country. "Eileen was a trusted and loyal employee as well…
More than 5,000 parents, alumni and friends came to campus Nov. 6-8 to celebrate Homecoming/Family Weekend. This year's theme was "Come Home!" Event photos are posted on the HCFW website. "Every year, I hear from alumni, parents and students that Homecoming/Family Weekend gets better and better," says Gemma Fontanella Ebstein, associate vice president for external relations. "We had a terrific turnout this year and the energy was palpable across campus – in the WESeminars, athletic contests, department anniversary celebrations and other special gatherings throughout the weekend. This has become one of the highlights of the year for the Wesleyan community.” The…
For 12 weeks last summer, Lauren Valentino ’10 taught underprivileged rising 9th graders how to speak French and read Hamlet – all while most of her students were still learning English as a second language. Valentino was in Denver, Colo., working with residents who had recently moved to the U.S. from Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Kenya, Mexico and Columbia, to name a few. "One student was a refugee from the Ivory Coast and had no formal schooling until three years ago," says Valentino, a sociology and French major. "He was one of my brightest kids." As a student-teacher working at the…
Wesleyan has launched its new online look with a completely redesigned homepage. The new, image-rich homepage, http://www.wesleyan.edu/, offers rotating photographs of campus life, university factoids and departmental highlights that change when the page is reloaded. The most noticeable change to the new homepage is the open layout that emphasizes information, facilitates navigation, and refocuses content for Wesleyan's primary target audiences, including prospective students, their parents and external users. Under the images are recent headlines, upcoming events and title selections from a new, open access Community Blog. All members of the Wesleyan community can author a post, and anyone can comment…
David PesciAs the College of Letters (COL) celebrates its 50th anniversary, we asked Ethan Kleinberg, associate professor of history and letters, director of the COL, about his life in two departments, his views on interdisciplinary teaching, how this impacts his own scholarship, and the future of the COL. Q. How did you end up with a joint appointment in the College of Letters and History Department? EK: As an undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley I created my own curriculum combining philosophy, history and religion as a “Humanities Field Major.” In graduate school at UCLA I combined work in History and Comparative Literature…
From its beginnings in 1959, Wesleyan’s College of Social Studies (CSS) has grown into a well-respected program and is celebrating its 50th year in 2009. The multidisciplinary program allows students to explore the subjects of government, history, economics and philosophy concurrently. Many attended lectures and celebrations for CSS during Homecoming/Family Weekend last weekend. The first event of the weekend was a CSS Public Lecture by John Goldberg (CSS 1983, professor of Law, Harvard Law School) on Friday, Nov. 6. His talk was titled “John Locke on Tort Reform (Really!): A CSS Parable.” John Goldberg was introduced by Brian Fay, the…